The hippies may have stumbled upon something with their love of patchouli. This natural herb does wonders for your body. Not only is it amazing for your skin, promoting a lustrous glow, but it also has many antiseptic properties. Besides the skin benefits, patchouli can also help in the hair department. Patchouli can actually be used in the fighting of dandruff.

In order to best harness the anti-dandruff powers of patchouli, we decided that a patchouli oil infusion was in order. This would then allow all of the medicinal anti fungal benefits of patchouli to be transferred through infusion into an oil. Now, this oil, as opposed to the herb, was something that we could easily work with for a hair conditioner recipe. Sometimes, as awesome as an herb is, the form that it is widely available in does not always suite it in the means of bath and body products. For these types of situations; where an herb is needed, but not physcially desired in its form, the solution is an herbal oil infusion.

There are various ways to make an herbal infusion. To see these different ways, please click here.

Please Note: For this Hippie Hair Conditioner Recipe, you will need to make your patchouli oil infusion 4 weeks prior to making the hair conditioner. Allowing the patchouli to steep for 4 weeks will permit the strongest oil infusion possible. With oil infusions, the longer the herb is allowed to steep, the stronger the oil infusion will become.

To view all of the steps to make your very own homemade patchouli oil infusion, please click here.

Now, once you have your patchouli infused oil, you are now ready to make your very own Hippie Hair Conditioner.

Other equipment that you will need for this recipe:
425 grams of Distilled Water
Scale- to weigh out your ingredients
Stove- for heating purposes
(2) Small Pots
Large Pot- for double boiler method
Large Mixing Bowl
Stick Blender- highly recommended for best emulsion.
Spatula

And now, the steps:

As when making any formulation for bath and body products, it is very important to have a clean and sanitized work area. You also want to have all of your equipment out and ready for when you need it.

The first step in making this recipe is the water phase. Get your distilled water and weigh it out. Once you have the correct amount, transfer the water into one of your small pots. Place the pot onto one of your stove top burners and begin to heat. You want your water to reach 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Use your thermometer to monitor this. Once you reach this temperature, you will want to continue to heat your water for an additional 20 minutes. This ensures that your distilled water is bacteria free. When the 20 minutes has expired, turn off the burner, and carefully remove the pot from the heat source. Set aside.

The next step is what is considered the oil phase. For this phase, we will be using the double boiler method to heat our ingredients. Now, get your large pot and place at least 3-4 inches of tap water into it. Set this pot onto one of your stove top burners. Turn the heat temperature on a lower setting. While the tap water is heating up, it is time to weigh out your ingredients. In the other small pot, weigh out the BTMS, vegetable glycerin, vitamin E oil, and finally the patchouli oil infusion. Once all of these ingredients are in the small pot, carefully place the small pot into the larger one. Once all of the ingredients are in a liquid state, once again get your thermometer. You want the temperature of the ingredients to reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Once you have reached this degree, check the distilled water temperature. You want your distilled water temperature to be around 140 degrees as well. The two temperatures must be close to one another for the next step to occur.

The next step in this recipe is the Mixing Phase. Once the degrees of both the ingredients and the water are close to one another, it is safe to mix. Please note: You will want to move quickly for this phase. In your large mixing bowl, place both the ingredients and the water together. Get your stick blender and start to mix it. You will want to periodically use your spatula to clean the sides of the bowl. Continue to stick blend until you notice your mixture is starting to turn white. This means that the conditioner is starting to emulsify. It is now time to check the temperature again.

For the final step or cool down phase you are looking for the magical degree of 120F. This is the safest temperature to add the optiphen. Once you hit this degree, weigh out and add your optiphen preservative. Next, add your essential oils. Mix well with your stick blender, and do not forget to scrap the sides of your bowl with the spatula. Once the conditioner has been thoroughly blended, allow it to cool at room temperature.

Once the hair conditioner has cooled, it is safe to bottle and lid.

Your Hippie Hair Conditioner is now ready to use. Enjoy!

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